The Suffolk-based group, which has 90 pubs and about 750 staff in Yorkshire, warned pub beer sales had come under "considerable" pressure due to plunging consumer confidence, the English smoking ban and raw material cost increases.

Its retail arm, which comprises 753 managed pubs and 39 restaurants, said like-for-like sales dropped 2.8 per cent. The group also operates another 1,800 mainly leased premises.

Greene King, which also owns the Loch Fyne restaurant group, posted pre-tax profits of £142m for the 53 weeks ended May 3, up 2 per cent from the year before, and broadly in line with market expectations.

But chief executive Rooney Anand offered some hope for pubs fighting the effect of the English smoking ban, which the industry said this week had knocked beer sales by 7 per cent in the past year.

He said the group's Scottish-based brewing and pub operator Belhaven, which is now into its third year of a nationwide smoking ban, hiked operating profits by 18 per cent last year.

"Our results in Scotland... give me some encouragement for future prospects in England," he said.

Greene King said retail revenues were 6 per cent up during the year. Food sales were up 2 per cent on a like-for-like basis, comprising 34 per cent of the division's total revenues.

Revenue at Pub Partners, Greene King's leased pubs arm in England and Wales which operates 1,474 premises, was up 2 per cent at £167.2m during the past year. Like-for-like profit was unchanged year-on-year, the group said.

Belhaven – which comprises brewing and 321 managed and leased pubs – delivered an "outstanding" 8 per cent rise in sales to £126.1m, with operating profit up 18 per cent at £27.5m.

The group said Belhaven's food revenue increased by more than 50 per cent over the last two years, citing the successful repositioning of a number of specialist pubs "to appeal to a broader consumer base", and increased focus on food and value for money.

Greene King's brewing arm – which produces brands such as Greene King IPA, Old Speckled Hen and Abbot Ale – saw revenues and operating profits fall 3 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

Shares in the group were down nearly 1 per cent.